Brazilian mining company Vale has decided to halt operations indefinitely at its Fazendão iron ore mine in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais, after an expansion permit was revoked in February by the local environmental development council.

Market participants avoided sending aluminium from Southeast Asia to the United States due to weak aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange and premiums in the US Midwest.

Conversations at Fastmarkets’ International Copper Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on February 26-28 revolved around the impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on copper production and procurement chain, as well as logistics disruptions.

Production of nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) lithium-ion batteries at South Korean battery maker LG Chem is not being affected by supply disruptions at L&F, one of its local cathode materials suppliers, a company source told Fastmarkets.

The Chinese ferro-silicon price continued to fall in the week to March 4 due to high stocks and worsening magnesium price performance.